Reflections on A choice between God or $ (Br Martin Arlando)

In spite of our dedication and absorption in daily chores, these are in themselves, vain pursuits whereby we should actually aspire for true riches which are found only in heaven…with God. Well let me illustrate with a story to show how wealth can make us unhappy as it is when God is absent in our lives.


There was once a poor shoemaker who was always in a good mood. He was so happy that he sang from morning to night. There were always children standing at his window and listening to him sing.





Next door to him lived a very rich man. He spent entire nights counting his money, and then went to bed in the morning, but he could not sleep because of the shoemaker’s singing. One day he figured out how he could keep the shoemaker from singing.

So he invited the shoemaker to come over and see him. He did. To his great surprise, the rich man gave him a little a bag filled with gold coins. When the shoemaker got back home, he opened the little bag. Never in his life had he ever seen so much money. He counted it all out carefully and the children watched him. It was so much that the shoemaker was afraid to let it out of sight and so he took it along to bed at night. But even there he kept thinking about the money and could not sleep.

So then he got up and took the bag of money up to the attic. But on second thought he was afraid it was not safe there. So the next morning he brought the money downstairs again.

He then thought of hiding it in the fireplace. “But I’ll just put it in the chicken coop. no one would look for it there,” he decided.



But he was still nervous about the money and so he dug a deep hole in the garden and hid it there. He was so preoccupied with the money that the never got back to making shoes. Nor could he sing any more. He was so worried that he could not produce a single note. And worst of all, the children did not come around to visit him any longer.

Finally the shoemaker was so unhappy that he dug up the money and hurried back to his neighbor with it. “Please take this money back,” he said. “Worry about it has made me sick, and even my friends do not come to see me anymore. I would rather be a shoemaker, like I was.”


Soon the shoemaker was again as happy and contended as before and he sang and worked the whole day.

Another day of our life is gone and just like today which is no more, our life here on earth will someday come to an end. Why, then, should we fear evils that do not last? And why do we put our hope in ourselves, in wealth…with it we cannot buy everlasting life nor avoid coming to the grave. But do not be afraid as the Psalmist of Psalm 48(49) says, evil days will end just as the days of both wise men and fools… just as their wealth and all their plans will perish. But there is salvation – a treasure that will never perish, because it has been revealed by Jesus Christ for this is our Christian hope, it is a hope that overcomes all pessimism. Let us than make a resolute choice in choosing God and God alone in our lives :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stay tuned for the next post by Br Aloysius Tan on 28th Oct 2010.